Learning from Tragedy....

In wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, there are so many things that fill mind, but no words to express how I feel. I hate the sensationalism of media and the way incorrect details and even names were released through social media and even major news outlets. It angers me that being first, getting an exclusive, trumps facts, feelings and journalistic integrity. But that is another rant for another day.... today, I think educators need to learn from this tragedy so if they are ever in such a situation, maybe they have the tools and trainging to try and get through it. There were brave teachers and children who survived this horrifying tragedy and my heart goes out to them as well as the families who lost loved ones.

"We can never go back and change what has been done.

But we can always learn the lesson to make things better next time."

Sub Hub writes:

The first is to remind all subs to make sure you know the emergency procedures of the schools where you sub. Unfortunately, you never know when tragedy may strike, and it could just as easily happen on a day when you are in a classroom, rather than the full time teacher. Make sure you know what to do in case of fire, power outages, inclement weather, and most horrifyingly of all, a lockdown. The death toll was lowered in Sandy Hook because of quick thinking, heroic teachers who knew how to keep their children safe. You need to know the exact same thing.

Full time teacher, you have a roll in this too. Make sure in your sub folder or sub tub, there is information on emergency procedures. Sure, the subs who work at your school nearly every day may know, but there is always one who has never been there before. Don't put your students at risk because you didn't pass along the information.

I know we all hate the drills. Yes, they are a pain. They interrupt our day of teaching; they upset some of the special needs students, and they are stressful to try to keep students quiet. But, Sandy Hook showed us that those drills are sometimes needed in real life situations, and we need to practice so we can keep our students safe.

What I find interesting is that our TTOC Committee is in the middle of developing a "Teacher-on-call binder" that would list the things TTOCs need to know when in a classroom in hopes classroom teachers would provide all the information when they are out of the classroom.

Our TTOC Committee has also worked recently with the Health and Safety representatives to ensure every teacher-on-call gets a key in case of such situations (lock downs) far too often TTOCs are not given keys, this can be a HUGE safety concern if there ever was a lock down!

Also, the class I am going into Monday is indeed having a lock-down drill, which was planned weeks ago. As a TTOC I wonder what kind of discussio this middle school class I have never met, doing this kind of drill so close after the Sandy Hook tragedy.